You don't know what you got til it's gone. For able-bodied,
young, white men in America, these words sound trite because men everywhere,
but in America most of all, have power that they think belongs to anyone,
man or woman, who chooses to take initiative, show gumption, work hard
or work smart.

As men age, the power usually erodes gradually like the
graying of hair, a few here, a few there, until the head is so white that
reality can't be ignored anymore. The waitress isn't quite as submissive
and eager to please. The bank teller seems slightly less attentive. The
salesmen are more arrogant and patronizing. The respect that young, healthy
men think is as natural and abundant as oxygen diminishes as they grow
older and more vulnerable. Men don't realize that this treatment is just
a taste of how old men, women, handicapped men and minorities are treated
every day.

In the area where I live, the deregulation of energy caused
an economic crisis that resulted in business closures affecting a large
group of men, who until now, were used to looking at the world through
the filter of white middle class male. Men accustomed to respect and security
as a matter of fact suddenly found themselves unemployed and unemployable.
Unexpected victims of the system of power they so firmly believed in,
they don't know where to direct their anger and confusion.

All across America, men accustomed to being in power are
being laid off. This is nothing new to the work force, but to each individual
man, it is a humiliating, personal trauma. What is new, is that the many
men who are losing their jobs now are at the pinnacle of their power.
After years of being promoted, competent and secure in the identities
defined by their job titles, they developed a solid belief in their superiority.

They believe that their success is based solely on their
performance rather than on any privilege, good fortune and circumstances.
When the less expensive labor of young men, women, and minorities displaced
the seniority and experience, the men blamed themselves instead of the
system that is inherently unfair. The lucky ones are laid off en masse
so they have compatriots to ease the shame, but even so, this is just
the first of many humbling experiences that comes with loss of power.

If and when these men realize that their humiliation is
not their fault, that the culture of power is flawed -- that Ayn Rand
was wrong -- then perhaps they could help make some fundamental changes
in our culture. They all have the right to vote and they have the experience
to organize. They just need the insight that comes from questioning their
preconceptions and prejudices about freedom and justice.